Every year, approximately 14.9 million nasoenteric or nasogastric (NG) feeding tubes are used in hospitals in the United States. Current feeding tube technology can be difficult to place and time consuming to use. Often, the delivery and placement of the feeding tube is not initially successful, and different placement methods have to be pursued. The feeding tube can be difficult to insert and place within the desired location, with a reported success rate of just 60%. Feeding tubes also need to be replaced often, compounding the impact on physician and patient. Although use of a feeding tube is considered to be one of the safer ways of artificial feeding, there can be complications involved with the use of a feeding tube. The complications can include tube migration, fistula formation (e.g., the abnormal connection between two epithelium-lined passageways), skin abrasions, tube occlusion, vomiting, and metabolic effects. Many of these problems are from erroneous placement that injures the patient. Additionally, 3.2% of feeding tubes are misplaced in the patient's airway, which can result in such conditions as infection, blood poisoning, pneumonia, or death.
Therefore, there remains a need to have better feeding tubes that are configured for easier placement without complications or injuring the patient, and there remains a need to improve feeding tubes and the devices, systems, and methods used for the delivery and placement of the feeding tubes in the small intestine.